Refrigerator - Temple City (2015) [Shrimper, SHR176]

Refrigerator - Temple City (2015) [Shrimper, SHR176, 12"]

You can pick this one up as an LP, or as an mp3 download at Revolver's Midheaven Mailorder site. IF you don't have a turntable, if you must, get the mp3s. I'm not usually this guy, but I implore you to get the record if you have the means to play it. I was "eh" on this one from the mp3s, then bought and A-to-D'ed a copy this past year and I fell in love with it. Just beautiful stuff. Their next album after this one, High Desert Lows, is a collaboration with Simon Joyner & co. and has its own sound. This one I think foreshadows what they'd get up to on So Long To Farewell. Man; they just keep getting better.

Context on this one, from Revolver's page:

Refrigerator and Shrimper celebrate 25 years together with the band’s first album in four years. Temple City is also the first record of theirs to feature electric guitar, feedback squalls and electric bass in over a decade, after the all-acoustic Bottles of Make Up and their last album, Dangerous, a stillborn recording of demos. More recently, vocalist Allen Callaci recorded with Adam Lipman (2013’s Glacial), Dennis Callaci with Simon Joyner (2013’s New Secrets, helmed by Jarvis Taveniere of Woods) and the band released a couple extremely limited and now out-of-print cassette-only releases.

Temple City was recorded in full just prior to harrowing health issues for Allen that ultimately led to a heart transplant. The band went back into the studio with longtime engineer Steve Folta after Callaci’s full recovery and rerecorded a number of songs as well as a few new ones to complete the 17 tracks which comprise Temple City.

The band will play select shows around the country to coincide with the album’s release, and Allen will embark on a tour to promote his book Heart Like a Starfish, due out in February on the Pelekinesis imprint.

That huge photo of the band on the back cover is really fantastic (my digital camera photos don't do it justice) and shows you the abbreviated personnel: Allen on vocals, Dennis on guitar, Daniel Brodo on bass, Chris Jones on drums.

A more thorough accounting, from the insert:

Recorded by Steve Folta
Except track 3, 7, 8, 10, 11 & 15 Recorded by Brian Wichert
Cover and back cover photos by Marc Campos
Insert and label photos by Chris Jones
Layout and artwork by Mark Givens
Mastered by JJ Golden at Golden Mastering

"Cul De Sac", "Thinking Man's Fool" & "Smile Kid"
Music Chris Jones, Lyrics Allen Callaci

All other songs Dennis Callaci

"Cul De Sac" - Chris Jones clean guitar
"Friendloverwhatever" - Christine Wichert backing vocals
"Secret Knock" - Dennis Callaci vocals
"Thinking Man's Fool" - Chris Jones guitar
"Percy Sledge" - Steve Folta excess guitars & keyboards
"Smile Kid" - Chris Jones guitar, Dennis Callaci Drums

This album is dedicated to dear friends that we lost along the way.
Tom Jankiewicz, Lindsey Barnett, John Harrelson, & John
Fornadley, you are deeply missed.

Tracks:

A1. Your Hometown
A2. As Advertised Please Don't Touch
A3. The Real Thing
A4. This Woman Here
A5. Pocket Thousandaire
A6. Cul De Sac
A7. Friendloverwhatever
A8. Secret Knock
B1. Ozu
B2. Thinking Man's Fool
B3. Rest of The Lonesome
B4. Run Down Rings
B5. Percy Sledge
B6. As I Was Before
B7. No Fun
B8. Sophia Loren
B9. Smile Kid

Via the insert, the Wichert recordings are tracks 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 15: "The Real Thing", "Friendloverwhatever", "Secret Knock", "Thinking Man's Fool" ,"Rest of the Lonesome", "No Fun". By the description from Revolver, I imagine these are the remaining tracks from the original recording sessions, before Allen's heart transplant?
If so, the Folta re-records and Folta-recorded new tracks are divided among "Your Hometown", "As Advertised Please Don't Touch", "This Woman Here", "Pocket Thousandaire", "Cul De Sac", "Ozu", "Run Down Rings", "Percy Sledge", "As I Was Before", "No Fun", "Sophia Loren", and "Smile Kid".

Regardless of whose session you're hearing, the whole record sounds great. That it was recorded on either side of Allen's near-death and recovery is a really beautiful thing; we're lucky to have him with us still as I write this. Temple City an overlooked entry in their catalog, including by me for quite some time. I hope you'll scroll back up to those Grapefruit/Midheaven buttons and take a look.

I don't have the lyrics for this one transcribed yet (they'll have to be by ear, like the old days) but cross your fingers.

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